"One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin..."
O~o~O
She asked for his name before he left her.
Of course, she only meant to thank him; she was the innocent woman who had been kidnapped by the gorilla. And she must have heard him despite his low voice. He could see her only whisper his name just under her breath, too quiet to be heard over the clamor of reporters.
But just as her eyes flashed up to look for him, to thank him, he was gone.
That night, he looked out the window down the dark street, and saw the orange of the sodium street light flicker before he closed the dingy curtains. No one had managed to track him. Not down the busy streets, and certainly not to their gloomy apartment. Only the cracks in the foundation followed him when he'd dragged himself up the stairs to their tiny room.
He reluctantly turned away and hobbled to his chair, a second hand seat cheaply bought from an estate sale down the road. The blue fabric had once been vivid, but the color had faded over time. It smelled of dust and resignation. As he slowly leaned down to sit, he winced; his legs were sore to the point where his knees were trembling. He had to carefully ease himself down with a heavy breath, and wait as the pain subsided to something more tolerable before he could relax. The cold air seeped through the window, reaching out for his damp hair that brushed along his neck.
Once he sat down, he didn't think he'd be able to move for a few hours. He stared with bleak eyes at their television set. The blue light that shined in his face and reflected off the drab paint on the walls made him tired, everything that happened had made him so very tired, but he couldn't sleep. So he just existed in the dead of night, suppressing his shivers as he watched bright images dance across a surreal screen. The dull buzz of traffic down on the street flared up every once in a while, and faint sounds throughout the building came through the walls on occasion. Luigi snoozed behind him, and he kept the volume down so he wouldn't disturb his brother.
Just as he started paying attention, he saw her again. The woman from before. She hadn't been able to escape the reporters like he had, she was tall and beautiful and far too bewildered to miss the public eye. Perhaps she didn't mind the attention like he did. He tried to sit up in his chair, and hoped someone would have gotten her to a hospital before long.
"I didn't get to catch his name." her voice was a little fuzzy due to the quality of the microphone that recorded her. She looked directly into the camera, then, and he suddenly felt silly for thinking she really was looking right at him. "But whoever you are, Jumpman, thank you. You saved my life. You're my hero!"
Mario sighed, and looked away from the television with a wry smile. He couldn't understand why she might lie, why she might protect his identity, but he was grateful. Perhaps it was her own gesture of gratitude. Whoever she was, she was clever, and he hoped she would go on to do great things.
O~o~O
"Capo, come check this out. I can hear something."
The brothers had done a lot of work for the city before, but Mario knew for certain that they had never seen anything quite like this network of underground sewers. Casting a glance over his shoulder, he jumped down from the wall of the pipe and landed easily on the stone floor. "What is it?" he had just tucked his wrench back into his belt, when he heard what Luigi was talking about.
There was a voice, coming from deeper underground. He moved closer to where Luigi was standing, straining to make out any words. But the sound was just too indistinct. The only thing he could tell for certain was that it was the voice of a woman.
There was a slight tone of urgency from the speaker, and it made Luigi nervous. He scrambled around to stand behind Mario, and nudged him forward. "We should go check it out, right? Maybe someone is lost down here?"
Elbowing him, Mario narrowed his eyes at Luigi. "Could be a ghost," he teased, glancing around the pipes with furtive suspicion.
Luigi smacked Mario upside the head, his voice going shrill. "Mario! Don't say such things!"
"Okay, alright," Mario chuckled, and held his hands out to calm Luigi. "Keep your pants on. Let's go."
Luigi grumbled as he trudged along, keeping behind and ducking a few inches below his full height. Mario sighed; it was hard to make out the voice with Luigi mumbling to himself, and he was tempted to shush his brother. But, he didn't want to aggravate Luigi further; he was stressed out enough just being in such a dark and eerie place. The cheap lights lining the top of the old stone walls had begun to flicker, ancient and forgotten.
They came upon a fork, with the paths extending in different directions. Mario poked his head through each, listening hard for the voice. It sounded watery, echoing over itself through the expanse of the crypt-like place. He couldn't tell exactly where the voice was coming from, but he had a feeling that with their luck, it was the direction that the lights had gone out.
Without light, the underground path opened out ahead like a gaping mouth with no foreseeable end. Mario stood there facing it, feeling a little like he was looking down into a well that he might fall into. He wondered, wryly, if the voice was really worth pursuing, and if they really needed to go after it through the dark. But he knew he wouldn't be able to relax until they knew what the source was. He straightened his belt, checked his gloves, and then switched on his headlamp.
Luigi let out a startled cry when Mario began walking towards the darkness. "Wh—hey! Mario!" he scrambled to follow, before he remembered to turn on his own headlamp. They only got a few steps inside before the ground began to get a little damp. Each step came with a faint splash. "Do we really have to go down here?" he complained, struggling to keep up as Mario marched along.
Mario didn't answer, and only checked over his shoulder that Luigi was staying with him. He couldn't deny that the pipes were also making him a little nervous; there were odd noises coming from distant places throughout the seemingly endless network. Like it would be any comfort, he rested one hand on the handle of his wrench.
The voice gained some volume, to where Mario could pick out some of the syllables. The woman sounded like she was in distress, and the urgency in her tone inspired Mario to walk a little quicker. Luigi protested the change in pace with a groan.
They hurried along for a few more moments, when Mario came to an abrupt stop. Luigi bumped right into him, and then stumbled back from the force. "Ah, yeesh Mario," he muttered, only to fall quiet when he realized why they had stopped. "She's… She's saying the same thing over and over again." he stood up straight and came close again, dusting off his overalls.
Mario nodded, and motioned for Luigi to stay quiet while he listened. The words were still hard to hear, but the tone of the voice was clearly repeating itself, unchanging. If Mario didn't know any better, he would have assumed it was a short recording set to replay itself.
"Jumpman." Luigi hummed to himself.
Casting a confused glance behind him, Mario looked to see Luigi looking up with narrowed eyes. "Jumpman," he said again. Then, seeing Mario's expression, he grinned a little. "She's saying something to do with Jumpman. That's what they called you after the whole gorilla thing!"
Mario was all too familiar with being called Jumpman, and winced a little. But, after Luigi had pointed it out, Mario could pick out the word from the middle of the garbled message. "That can't be right," he murmured, starting to walk again. He hoped it was just their imagination, that they had just heard the name so many times that it was just an easy mistake. However, as they got closer and closer to a sudden drop off, Jumpman became very distinct, as well as the rest of the message. Mario held out his arms to prevent Luigi from going any further when he spotted a large green pipe ahead.
The brothers paused. It must be a pipe, only, it must have been constructed from the smoothest metal Mario had ever seen. The bright emerald color stood out in the dank sewers. The lip of the pipe rose above Mario's head, and the size of it could easily be large enough for him to just jump inside if he wanted to.
It was clearly very distinct from any network they'd seen, and the open end of it must be violating multiple regulations, depending on what the pipe was designed to contain. Mario approached it, keeping his footsteps light.
He hesitated, reaching out to touch the cool metal with his gloved hands. Then, just as Luigi started to hum nervously, he jumped up to the edge.
A hole of darkness. The pipe just went down. Mario peered down as best as he could without falling in, trying to light some of the way. Once he realized the voice was definitely coming from the downward direction pipe, he leaned further, only to feel Luigi grab onto the back strap of his overalls to keep him from losing his balance.
Even if it sounded distant, the message was clear. "...Us now. Quickly, you must run! Evacuate the citizens, the Koopa King has come for me. I am afraid this is our darkest hour. Please, send for the Jumpman! He is the only one who can help us now."
Mario and Luigi stood there, listening to the woman repeat herself again and again. They stared into the abyss, contemplating her words and trying to make sense of them. Whoever she might be, she sounded desperate, and seemed to genuinely believe her messenger could find their last hope.
"They must mean another Jumpman." Mario scratched his head.
Luigi backed up a step, and yanked Mario back away from the pipe. "What other Jumpman?" he asked, jabbing Mario's chest. "You're the Jumpman! Whoever she is, she's asking for you!"
Mario shook his head, fiddling with his tool belt. "That's impossible. It was only a headline."
With an exaggerated sigh, Luigi held his own head for a moment, before he turned and grabbed Mario by the shoulders. "Capo. You saved some girl from a crazy gorilla! You literally leapt on top of buildings and over flaming barrels to save her! And you're trying to tell me you're not the Jumpman?"
"She's a woman, and her name is Pauline." Mario corrected, leveling Luigi with a hard stare.
Luigi shook him a few times. "You're missing the point! You're a hero! And now this lady here needs help. Don't tell me you're going to stand by and let this, ah, Koop-er King put another woman in danger, are you?" he pressed.
Shoving Luigi off, Mario shook his head. "I'm not a hero." he argued, and left it at that.
They both fell quiet, listening to the message run through a few more times. Mario let out a rough sigh, and started to check that he had everything. With a smile to himself, Luigi looked over behind them one last time, before they both turned to look down into the pipe.
With a shared, apprehensive glance towards one another, they stood up straight again. Luigi quickly inched behind Mario, and Mario continued to stare at the gaping pipe. He tried to size it up, not letting the darkness match his will.
The message echoed on and on. Mario pulled his hat further over his head, took a big breath, and glanced back one more time to make sure Luigi was with him.
And then, with eyes forward, he jumped.
O~o~O
"Just up here," Mario muttered, heaving himself up a short tower of concrete bricks.
He tried to catch his breath once he managed to get to the top, having taken out all the Octoombas on the tower, but had to close his eyes as he once again had to take in the spread of planets around him. He rested against a crystal with yet another launch star inside.
Luma crooned at his shoulder, and Mario handed him another starbit while he worked on getting his stomach to settle.
The rush should have been familiar. The urgent drive of a new adventure to rescue the Princess. His Special One, as Rosalina had said. Mario shook his head, feeling the heat in his cheeks despite the splintering cold all around him. Instead, he'd been running over and under and through various little planets until he had entirely lost all sense of orientation.
Luma didn't seem to notice his utter confusion about where they were. Where they had started and where they were going on this particular mission. His head spun when he struggled to focus on the broad horizon before him. Instead, the little star looked toward a light in the distance.
A glimmering star, maybe? No, it was brighter, and closer. A piercing glow.
Squinting, Mario made out the shape of another little planet. That must be where he had to go next. What was one more after the handful he'd been running around on? Luma giggled and went back under his hat, wriggling around as if he were excited. Maybe he was finally getting close to the Power Star that was supposedly out here. At least, that was what the dark Luma who had sent him out from the Terrace had hoped for.
He wasn't certain how a Terrace within the Observatory allowed them to view and travel to faraway galaxies, but he had come across stranger methods of travel.
A Power Star waited up ahead. He had to stay focused on this mission. With a deep breath, Mario went to free the launch star from the crystal, and hopped in before he could hesitate. Luma gave an excited chirp beneath his hat. He spun hard to blast off.
The launch star took him up first. A burst of speed. His stomach flipped when the path veered hard to his left, until he bore down on the planet that had glowed. The glow faded as he approached. A round blur of green and brown and white. He blinked and couldn't quite gauge where he would land. Luma's confident hum in his ear told him when to flip around and brace for landing.
The surface cracked beneath his boots. Mario's heart dropped.
Pure instinct took over. He flipped back, only for panic to seize his chest. He didn't know where to go. If the surface collapsed underneath him, he would be helpless to get back to another planet.
He landed on solid dirt. Heart pounding, Mario stared at the ground before raising his head.
A giant egg. Nearly half the size of the planet itself. He must have landed on the very top of it. The massive form shuddered, cracks forming along the bottom. A scaly tail whipped out from beneath. Its size took up the entire planet's horizon. The egg shifted, a sound rumbling from whatever creature had slept inside, and began to move.
Mario swallowed hard, taking a step back as the monstrous egg wandered around the little planet. He found the tail to be somehow familiar. Luma let out a sparkling laugh. This creature must have the Power Star.
There wasn't time to hesitate. Mario tightened his fists and jogged after the egg, trained on the mace-like end of the tail.
A hard spin. The end of the tail flew out, almost as if it were about to leave the planet's gravitational pull, before whipping straight back. The mace end of the tail smashed easily through the egg.
The shell shattered. A giant, dinosaur-like Piranha rose up in full bloom, shaking off the pieces of the egg and baring its fangs. Mario braced himself. The creature didn't have eyes, but he saw the moment it fixed on him. A screeching roar ripped across the tiny planet. Vibrating in his ears.
Mario grit his teeth and started to run.
The monsters of space, whether they were Bowser's minions or simply existing of their own accord far beyond his own planet, gave him more of a grip on what was happening than any friendly face. At least he knew what to do when an enemy got aggressive. It didn't matter if his feet were on the ground or far above on a distant star.
And he knew how to focus on the specific goal of gathering Power Stars. Mario took a hard left, Luma's excited trill ringing in his ears, and got behind the Dino Piranha.
He had to sprint hard to keep up with the rampaging plant creature. His chest burned with a cold ache, but he had to get back to the end of its tail. He pushed, boots pounding into the rumbling ground, and waited for the bobbing tail to come back in range.
A calculated step to the right. Mario tightened his fists and timed his spin just as the tail swung toward him.
The tail launched away, and immediately flew right back at the Dino Piranha's head. The strike nearly knocked the creature down. Mario sidestepped the petals that fell off, and backed up while the Piranha regained its bearings. The purple spotted lobe flushed with color, until the flower turned a bright red.
He had to hit it again. The Dino Piranha struggled to its feet and focused on him once again, baring its fangs before it let out a deafening roar. Mario's ears buzzed and he tightened his fists. He managed to dive out of the way before the Piranha lunged for him. Its mass shook the tiny planet.
Mario started to run before it got up again. Lurching forward, the Piranha charged toward him. It had picked up on some speed in its desperate rage. Mario struggled to keep ahead. The massive monster bore down on him like he was an insect.
It started to gain on him. He had to pray he could get the timing right. Mario darted hard to the side, and immediately spun.
The tail hurtled out toward the stars once again, before flying back to strike the Piranha's head.
Panting, Mario stopped. The rest of the petals floated to the ground. An abrupt stillness came over the tiny planet as the Piranha crumpled and fell down to the ground. A dead bloom. It rotted away in a puff of purple smoke. Luma came out from under his hat with an awed, tinkling laugh as the Power Star materialized and took the Piranha's place.
Mario stared up at the Power Star's golden glow, stark against the deep blue of the starry skies.
He let out a deep breath. There was a lot to do.
O~o~O
Flying through space was as terrifying as it was sobering.
Rosalina sent him to galaxy after galaxy, and he would glide through the glimmering paths that mapped the stars out before him. The Lumas were the ones who created the paths, and as erratic as they were, Mario realized there was a science to each direction they took him. He had believed the Lumas were variable by nature, but he found with each curve and dip that they were taking advantage of gravity, and making use of centripetal force. He was impressed by how economic the little star beings were with their energy.
As soon as he brought back a Power Star, he was out again, holding his breath and flying to the next galaxy. He couldn't rest, and he didn't want to rest. Rosalina offered him a room to sleep in, but he refused. He could keep himself going with brief naps during his travels. Though, there were times he forgot why he had laid down; he would get so caught up staring at the stars and planets, wondering how far they all were. Even when he did manage to close his eyes long enough to fall asleep, his thoughts and dreams were too startling. Any sleep he could get was usually cut off by some sudden jolt of adrenaline.
The worlds he flew to were strange, he had to admit. But he didn't really stand around long enough to dwell.
His next excursion brought him to a planet that appeared to be half of a canyon suspended in the air. He ran past a space that opened up in the middle, like a cookie cutter had just pressed itself through the ground, revealing a black hole swirling endlessly beneath. Mario tried to stay as far from the edge as he could.
"Welcome to the Honeyhive Kingdom!" A Honey Bee greeted him with a broad smile, and Mario practically skidded to a stop. "Our Queen rules over this land. All new bees must greet her Highness!"
Perhaps the Queen knew something about the Power Stars that were hidden in the galaxy. Mario tipped his hat toward the bee with a nod, before he hurried off again.
A boulder rolled by, and Mario glanced over his shoulder, wondering where it was going. He stood there, long enough for several similar boulders to pass him. Each one tumbled right over the edge of the empty space in the plain, and was swallowed by the black hole, without any trace that the boulder had ever existed. He looked to his left, to the bee that had spoken to him. He looked to his right, where other bees and insect-like creatures were gathered around a fountain. No one looked particularly troubled by the boulders.
Just as he crossed the path of the boulders, letting just one more go past, an orange beetle-like creature took notice of him. Mario held up a hand as it started flying away from him in a hurry, an apology on the tip of his tongue. But before he could say anything, the bug exhausted itself.
Mario watched the bug as it fell on its gleaming orange shell, wings buzzing beneath it. The legs twisted desperately in the air, straining for some escape as if it faced some horrible, inevitable fate. The sight was pitiful; the bug just wasn't able to right itself, and Mario felt guilty for staring at the poor bug in its moment of vulnerability. But at the same time, he found that he didn't feel much differently.
He pursed his lips. Mario did feel quite like a bug squirming uselessly on the ground.
After a moment, Mario looked at the ground and took a deep breath. There wasn't time to feel like a bug. He had to find the Power Stars, and the discomfort he felt was a stern reminder that he had to get moving. The Princess could be anywhere in the universe, and he was just standing around, staring at beetles.
The bug had given up and just laid, defeated, on its back, just as Mario continued running along the hill.
Another Honey Bee pointed out the striped mushroom sitting near the edge of the cliff. The bee suit, he acknowledged with a sigh, did nothing to help with his low spirit. The bright yellow and black costume just made him feel silly. He wondered if it had really been intended as a tool, and not just as a joke. The wings were kind of neat. But, they didn't really let him run or jump to his full potential. Luma wasn't able to help him spin very well either.
He ventured behind a waterfall, through a cave, and towards a hollowed stump. But he stopped before he jumped in. Usually, when he discovered a new power up like the bee suit, Luigi was there with him. He imagined the way Luigi would point and laugh, and how they would tease each other about the silly getup. The thought made him smile, and then frown, once he remembered Luigi wasn't going to be there.
No, his brother was millions of miles away. Mario didn't even know if he was safe. But as long as Luigi was on their own planet, he would find a way, right? Luigi could manage without him. Mario looked up at the sky, and it occurred to him that he was the one who was struggling. Maybe he should be wondering whether or not he could manage without Luigi. He was so far from home, so far from his brother and the Toads and the Princess. Everything and everyone he cared about was scattered across the cosmos, at distances he couldn't name.
Mario pinched the bridge of his nose, and closed his eyes. All he could think about was how much he missed everyone. He missed Toadsworth's angry little rants, and he missed Luigi's silly antics. And the reason he was out in space at all, his entire motivation to keep going; he missed the Princess, her endless grace, and her unwavering hope.
Though, just missing them wouldn't do anyone any good. Especially the Princess; she was waiting for him, wherever Bowser had taken her. And the thought of her sitting in a cell, looking up at the stars all alone, was too painful. He took in a shaky breath, and tried to feel like his movements were his own. Space and its peculiar vastness had a way of making him feel like his body wasn't his. Luma shifted beneath his hood, and he thought the soft movement was supposed to be reassuring.
With a sigh, he opened his eyes. A dark comet flew by in the distance. Mario started forward, only to freeze.
There, what seemed like a mirror image of him. Mario blinked. The image disappeared. He could have sworn there was a shimmering space for just an instant. A shape that resembled himself. Eyes deeper and darker than space. He reached out, but there was nothing there.
He shook his head. He must be seeing things. He waited for his heart to stop pounding and jumped down the hollow stump.
He met several more bees, who pointed him in the direction of the Queen. After running across the top of floating flowers, climbing up the path of honeycomb hexagons, and flinging himself from drooping dandelions, Mario finally came to the top of a small planetoid. Most of the surface was water, but it resembled a pool more than a naturally occurring pond. There were fountains spraying above, and more of the floating flowers spinning slowly in the air. Various bees and bugs and other creatures Mario had never seen before lounged on giant lily pads that floated in the water.
But what stuck out most was the massive bee, who buzzed in her place on the opposite side from where Mario stood. She tilted her head, regarding him with her big, dark eyes.
Mario shifted from foot to foot, and realized he was standing on a leaf, of all things, before what had to be the Queen of this particular colony. He scratched his head and spotted a crown sitting on top of her head, confirming his suspicion. Her scrutiny wasn't surprising at all; he had just appeared out of nowhere, and didn't look anything like her people. So he tried to think of what he would say if she demanded to know who he was and where he came from. Was the truth the right answer? Would she help him if he explained the situation?
"Are you a doctor, new bee?" the Queen asked him.
The question threw Mario off so much that for a moment he wondered if bees were known to have poor eyesight. Could she not see his red sleeves, or his mustache? Fidgeting with one of the antennae protruding from his hood, he was amazed that he could be mistaken for a bee at all.
He thought carefully about his answer, and came to the conclusion that the Queen would only ask for a doctor if she needed one. It wasn't like he knew very much about the wellness of bees, but he figured if something was wrong, it might have something to do with the small golden prisms on her fuzzy abdomen that he could just make out when the light caught them. He finally nodded. Then, remembering the poor eyesight, he added, "Yes."
The Queen let out a faint sigh. "Oh thank goodness, you see, we seem to be having a problem. Our entire body feels terribly itchy. Would you possibly be able to perform a diagnosis?"
Just as he thought, it must be the prisms that were bothering her. Mario looked up to all the spraying fountains. A Honey Bee had warned him not to touch the water while he was wearing the suit, and he exhaled deeply. "Yes. I can help you." he raised his voice a little so he could be heard, and then jumped off the leaf.
Once he got the height he needed, he avoided the fountains as much as he could with the suit. It really didn't allow him to fly very fast, and he thought, stubbornly, that he could easily have made it to the Queen without having to be dressed as a bee. He veered off to the side when he mistimed when the water sprayed, and just barely managed to keep flying until he could fall safely on top of one of the flowers. He bounced, and then landed flat on his face with a muffled sound when he got all the air knocked out of his lungs. Dizzy, he lifted his head, and tried to find the Queen again, but his landing had gotten him a little turned around.
It was her laughter that pointed him in the right direction. "You are very clumsy, even for a bee." the Queen giggled, covering her mouth with one of her gloved hands. Mario grimaced, and put a hand on his head to try and steady himself.
Clumsy? He may not have been a gold medal-winning gymnast, but he certainly wasn't 'clumsy.' But the Queen was waiting, and, more importantly, so was Princess Peach. So he didn't have time to dwell on what was probably just a harmless comment. He got to his feet, blinking a few times before he could see straight. Then, taking a deep breath, he ran across the rest of the flower and leapt up as far as the suit let him.
Flying the rest of the way to her was no trouble once he passed the water. But he wasn't quite sure where to land. He figured he should inspect the prisms up close, and flew directly towards the nearest one.
He reached out to grab the first prism, and recognized the shape and color. The Queen didn't have just anything stuck to her, she had the pieces of a launch star. Mario's eyes widened as he realized what he was holding, and got to work finding the rest of them. There had to be at least five, and he flew all around the Queen trying to find them. The Queen was helpful; she tried to point out where she felt the most itchy, and before he knew it, Mario had all the pieces.
"Oh, thank you, new bee!" the Queen thanked him profusely just as he removed the last of the pieces. They each came together and formed a launch star behind the Queen. Mario had a feeling in his gut that he should take it. "Please, if you should ever need anything, you know where to find us! You are welcome anytime!"
Mario nodded to the Queen, and waved goodbye to her. Clenching his fists, he felt Luma's power surge through him, and he jumped up to fall into the launch star's gravity. He spun, bracing as the launch star wound up, and then shot off into space.
He circled the galaxy, rounding the canyon that looked so small from up so high. The sky was bright and blue, but if he turned his head far enough, he could make out the stars at the very edge of his view. But he didn't linger for long, before he came around a gigantic tree to a platform near the top. He flipped, and landed easily in the middle.
"Wah! A bee!"
Mario frowned at the sudden shout, and he raised his head to see five Toads before him all scattered across the wooden platform. In a panic, they all pressed themselves against the fence, trembling and staring at him with wide eyes. That was, until the one in the middle recognized him.
"Wait...Mario?" The red Toad fixed his little headlamp and let go of the fence. He took one wary step, and then another towards Mario, squinting his eyes.
"Captain?" Mario returned, blinking when he realized he was looking at the infamous Toad Brigade. Then, he shook his head in dismay. He lost the bee suit and looked around at the group, now back in his familiar attire. Why were they here? How had they ended up out in space?
Upon recognizing him, the rest all lit up and greeted him with the biggest smiles he'd ever seen. Like they weren't trapped on a planet so terribly far from home. Like everything was okay. Mario had to take a step back as they all crowded around him, filling the space with their joyful laughter. One voice rose above the rest, and Mario felt his heart drop in his chest.
"Mario will save us!"
Captain Toad was clearly happy to see him. All of them were. They believed he could help them.
He just stood there, while they practically danced in circles around him. With him there, home wasn't so far away for the little Brigade. Surely, they had no idea just how distant their planet was, and with a glance at the big blue sky, Mario didn't think he had the heart to deliver the news. He was the only one who knew the truth. In a cruel way, it made him feel more alone than before, when he had believed he was the only one out in space.
Luma fidgeted beneath his cap. He must be near a Power Star.
"We found something Mario, we think it could help!"
Mario turned his attention back down to Captain Toad, who indicated a chest sitting on the platform. With a flourish, he opened it up, and a Power Star rose from within. With a modest glow, the Star spun slowly, and reflected in the Toad's eyes. Mario let out a shaky breath and tried to compose himself before the Brigade. They all looked up at him expectantly, their smiles just as warm as the Star.
He forced a smile. "Yes, this is a great help. Good work."
If they could hear his voice crack, none of the Toads mentioned it.
O~o~O
Mario tried not to linger too long in any one place. He created a sense of urgency within him that manifested itself deep in his chest, and it spread out through his limbs like meandering vines. It made his blood run cold and his heart lurch with every breath.
He felt as if he spent more time flying, more time gliding through the frigid stillness of space and staring at all the stars going by than standing. There was a constant ache, when his feet struck the ground, a constant roll in his mind that gave him the sense that he didn't quite fit in his own body anymore. The longer he flew, the less he felt like he was really all there.
But even the times he was on a planet, everything that he did and everything that happened was like a blur.
The massive machine blared with a warning siren as soon as he started scaling up the side of one of its legs. Due to its sheer size, and along with the power of the Grand Star, it practically had its own pull of gravity. Bullet Bills chased him all the way up, crashing into themselves and the gates trying to get to him. They knew nothing but pursuit. He had to sprint to keep ahead of them.
Luma thought the chase was a game. "You can't catch us!" he tried taunting the unfeeling bullets whizzing in their direction. Even when they didn't respond, he giggled with every new bullet in pursuit.
The distraction cost Mario a few steps on the rolling gears. He supposed the naive little starchild couldn't have known how serious the situation was. But leading the Bullet Bills to crash into the generator was no trouble. He freed the Grand Star from its glass dome. Bowser Jr's howls of shame echoed over the small planet as the machine, Megaleg, crumbled to pieces and fell out of orbit.
Back at the Observatory, the Toads had managed to construct a ship they called the Starshroom. With the ship, they were able to scout galaxies with him, though he got the sense he would still be leading the way.
There was a galaxy they followed him to, entirely composed of space junk. Among all the debris, through the rocks and metal and glass, Mario came upon a very old vessel that could only have come from his world. The sight wrenched something very deep inside of him. People who were like him once sat in that spaceship, people who worked very long and hard to reach the stars. But unlike him, they had purpose years in the making, and guidance through science that likely made more sense than the magical logic that kept him alive. The ship represented one of humanity's greatest feats. Though, its failure to return to earth resembled something more like a failed dream.
Mario found the insignia on the side of the spaceship that proudly declared its name in bold, red and blue letters. Luma wanted to explore it more, and gave a sad croon when Mario kept a straight face and continued marching on. He decided not to mention anything about the ship to the Toads.
On his own, he infiltrated a fortress called the Battlerock. As he went in, wreaking all sorts of havoc in search of the Power Stars it harbored, the fortress buckled and exploded in his wake. Three Power Stars followed him back to the observatory; one had been heavily guarded with cannons, another he had earned by clearing all sorts of debris for a grumpy robot, and the final one he had taken after defeating the Topman Tribe and freeing captured Lumas in the process. He took off into space with his ears ringing from the blast, seeing colors reflect before him in the fire. Luma cheered in his ear, mistaking the explosions for something beautiful.
Mario's intention hadn't been to destroy, and he glanced over his shoulder to see what the damage was. The smoke was too thick to make anything out. But he had found what he was looking for. Rosalina would be glad to have the Power Stars and the Lumas safely returned to the Observatory.
Before he knew it, he was on his way to Bowser's Star Reactor. Knowing Bowser, the Star Reactor was one of many encounters they would have. Bowser would have laid out a clear path for him to follow, an obvious plot to lead Mario along to wherever he might be carrying out his latest big idea. As much as Bowser put into his intricate schemes, Mario knew he couldn't resist an attempt to triumph over the only man who stood in his way. He wasn't sure if he should consider himself lucky that Bowser, of all the beings he knew, came closer to guiding him through space than anyone else.
For a moment, he thought he could make out a familiar constellation when he looked up. When he blinked, the shape had gone. His mind could have traced a million shapes all around him; there was no sky out in space; there were only the billions of stars, everywhere, surrounding him constantly. But they were just far enough to leave him cold without their light.
He could not escape the deep cold of space. If he sat still for long enough, he began to shiver.
Back home, his tolerance for the cold was very high because of his internal fire, his Firebrand. But even on days when he did feel cold, it didn't bother him because he was often on his way to somewhere warmer. Even if his fingers and nose felt the chill, even when his cheeks turned a little red, the comfort of a warm home always awaited him.
But out in space, there was no escaping the cold. There was no hope of relief.
Rosalina had told him he should at least try and sleep before going after Bowser. Luma tried to encourage him away from the Launch Star with a sad croon. But Mario couldn't rest. He had to keep moving.
Bowser took great care to construct a dizzying level for him, with an air of eerie familiarity; it resembled something that he might have had to navigate back home. The difference was the platforms and paths were built around a black hole, and just hung in space like Bowser had dangled it from a string. Mario never fretted about heights, but he wasn't exactly excited about being so dangerously close to stumbling over the edge into either the endless swath of space or the swirling mass of a black hole.
He tried not to think about it while he ran along. But even as he drove himself past the obstacles Bowser put down for him, he kept glancing every once in a while to the nearest edge.
His head hurt. He had been through courses of a similar construct far too many times for him to really have to think hard about where he was going. But occasionally his footing would falter, or he would have to slow down to make sure he was steady. He eyed the black holes all the while. His balance was off, everything he did felt off. But he put his head down and kept going. He kept running, even though he felt no power in his muscles. Mario found his fatigue annoying; he wanted to be done so he could move on. He was still running, wasn't he? If he was still standing, he reminded himself irritably, then he could keep moving.
Finally, he came upon a staircase, with each step well over his own height. A marble path designed to lead him straight to the fight, checkered green and white.
Bowser appeared to his left at the top of a fort. The massive reptile watched with a satisfied gleam, apparently proud of his monstrous invention. He yelled something that Mario couldn't quite hear over the Star Reactor, and started blasting the staircase to pieces with meteors.
Mario knew it wasn't really an attempt to send him flying out in space again; no, it was more like a guarantee that he couldn't turn back. But Mario was more concerned with the sudden descent and the bits of marble falling away. He sprinted and hurdled up the last few steps, working his way onward and measuring his breath.
When he landed before Bowser, he met his malicious grin with a stern glare.
Bowser tossed his head back and laughed. "You finally made it!" he taunted, wrinkling his nose. "Just in time for me to stomp you into space bits!"
Mario narrowed his eyes. Before he could take a step, Luma gave an urgent tug beneath his hat. "Careful!" he warned.
Bowser raised his arms and roared. With his magic, he lifted them both off of the ground.
Alarmed, Mario looked down at his feet, and to the sudden distance in the air he was from the fort. He realized Bowser had just switched the gravity; as soon as he looked up, he saw the artificial planetoid, and flipped around to brace for the landing.
Bowser sent a shockwave across the tiny metal planetoid as soon as he landed. Mario struggled to time his jump correctly to avoid being hit. He landed awkwardly, having to drop down on one knee, on a small dome of blue glass.
As he lifted his head, he noted that it was only one of many domes. Glancing back down to the glass and trying to catch his breath, he thought it would take something a lot bigger than him to break it. The Grand Star he sought might have made the mechanical planet vulnerable in some way so he could set it free.
Bowser must have noticed his odd stumble, because he laughed and sent fireballs circling the planet. "What's the matter, you jumping jerk?" he leered. "Gravity got you all mixed up?"
Forcing himself to his feet, Mario huffed and dissipated a fireball with just a spin. Luma made an aggressive noise from under Mario's hat just as Bowser began to approach him. The massive Koopa took his time ambling toward him, because he was cocky and thought he would win. He loomed over Mario and considered him with a smirk.
Mario stood his ground. His stance may have wavered, but his hard stare never did.
He held his breath. Bowser leapt up. Mario backed away.
The blue glass shattered. Bowser took off running with a howl of pain, and Mario saw he had been scorched by the Star energy within the planet.
"Behind you!" Luma chimed up. Mario whipped around, hearing Bowser coming up from behind. Upon seeing Mario, Bowser skidded to a stop and tried to run the other way. But Mario moved quicker. He spun hard, striking Bowser's tail and sending him spinning on his shell. To make sure the fight was over, he waited until Bowser came around the other side and spun one more time.
The force of his attack caused Bowser to lose his control over the gravity of the planet. Both he and Mario fell off back toward the fort below, and Mario just managed to flip back around to land on his feet. Bowser tumbled to the ground with a grunt.
He looked up with unfocused eyes, and touched his head. "It doesn't matter," he growled, trying to get to his feet. "The plan is too far along now. You really think you can stop me?"
Mario didn't answer. Bowser grimaced and held up his arms again. "This isn't over, you little lunatic." He glowered at Mario just as his body became surrounded by dark energy. He disappeared in a flash.
Not even a moment after Bowser had left, Mario heard the planetoid above buckle, and he looked up to see the Grand Star burst free.
He watched the Star slowly come down to the fort. It stopped just above him. Mario looked around, to the empty fort, and to the crumbling planet, and the red skies above.
Luma appeared from his hat. He blinked at the pearly starchild, and then rubbed his eyes because they hurt. Everything hurt, when he thought about it. His shoulders were tense, his back ached, his legs felt heavy. With a worried trill, Luma urged him toward the Grand Star. "Let's go home," he said, his ethereal voice uncharacteristically doleful.
Mario thought he should have been relieved. The Grand Star was a sign of considerable progress. He was one step closer to really reaching Bowser, and to rescuing Princess Peach. Rosalina would be pleased. The Toad Brigade would be thrilled to watch it expand the beacon. With a sigh, he thought of the Toads, and reached up to touch the Grand Star.
O~o~O
"They are very happy to see you, you know."
Mario turned his head slightly to acknowledge Rosalina, and then returned to resting his chin on his fist. His empty stare rested on the Brigade, who all went on chattering with the Lumas in the garage. They were so happy, so optimistic, even after he told them how far away they were from home, and about all the work that lay ahead. He didn't understand how they could be so carefree, but part of him had to acknowledge that the Brigade had been craving for the chance to go on a massive adventure with him.
Even still, after going on countless treacherous adventures of his own, he wasn't adapting to space nearly as well as they evidently already had.
Luma came out from beneath Mario's hat, and floated up to press himself against Rosalina's cheek. He gave a quiet chirp, and Rosalina laughed warmly. Then, he returned to Mario, and nudged himself into Mario's free hand.
Rosalina gathered her dress, and sat beside Mario on the steps in front of the Terrace. He appreciated her company; he didn't really know her too well, but she didn't make him feel like he had to speak. He didn't know many people who could sit without making at least a little conversation, yet she never prompted him to converse. Her words had a certain completion to them that never required a response, unless he wanted to respond.
She gazed at the Toads with him. "They think very highly of you. You are something of an inspiration to them." There was a warmth to her tone that reminded Mario of a mother. "Perhaps it is you that protects them from seeing space the way that you do. With you here, there is no amount of darkness that can quell their spirit."
Mario let out a deep sigh and rested his head in both of his hands, which forced Luma to fly out and loop back around to his shoulder. So that was what it was? The reason the Brigade could be so calm was because of his own reputation? He wondered what they would do if they knew that he was hardly able to sleep because he was constantly thinking about the endless expanse of stars and planets that he could not escape from. What would they think if they saw him stumbling at the sight of a black hole? Would they be so certain that everything would be okay then? How would he be able to keep their peace of mind if he couldn't even keep his own?
He thought about Princess Peach. Unlike the Toads, she would be able to see right through him.
Rosalina echoed his sigh with a softer exhale. He didn't realize he was trembling until he felt her hand on his back, and he tried to be still. "You have more to worry about than they do, but your qualms are largely internal. They will follow your lead." she told him. "You can't let yourself drift as a response to just any force. You have your own magnitude and direction. There is a force inside of you and throughout all of space that drives you toward your Special One. Let it compel you, and it will bring everything into focus."
Lifting his head up, he looked with heavy eyes to the Toads again. He wasn't really very certain what Rosalina meant by his own force. But he assumed the general idea was that he needed to get a grip on himself. For their sake, he had to pull himself together, and at least put on a brave face. He wouldn't make it to the Princess if he was just drifting in space. He had to drive himself onward, as he always had. Rosalina was right, but focusing on what mattered was a lot easier said than done.
Her hand left his back, and the cold returned. "They mentioned someone else. With the ship they're building, they found signs of your brother."
"Luigi?" Mario whipped his head up to face her, which startled Luma. "Luigi is out here?"
Rosalina nodded once, and gave him a distant frown. She considered the look on his face. "You are not happy to see your brother?" she inquired. Away in the garage, the Toads all burst into laughter, and Mario only vaguely noticed what they were doing. He looked in their direction, but he wasn't really seeing them. Rosalina waited while he tried to sort out his answer.
He pressed the palm of his hand to his forehead, and looked at the ground. His initial reaction had been his heart skipping a beat in a sudden thrill; of course he was happy that he would be able to see Luigi again. But after the skip, he felt everything drop, everything go cold. Luigi was lost in space just as he was. He wasn't alone after all, and instead of relief, Mario felt worse than he did before.
He would much rather bear the burden of outer space alone if it meant Luigi and the Toads wouldn't be in danger. Sure, he had been miserable without any of them around, but at least if he was alone, then he only had the Princess to worry about.
But now, everyone's life was on the line. Mario wasn't sure if he could protect them all. And perhaps the Toads were immune to whatever space was doing to him, but he and Luigi were brothers! Whatever it was that he felt, he could be certain that Luigi would feel it to some degree as well. Not only that, but Luigi was far more skittish than he was. He could only imagine how Luigi was handling himself, and the thought chilled him deeply. His poor little brother was out there, all alone, on some distant planet, with no clue how far he was from home. At least Mario had an idea, but even the idea wasn't any comfort.
With a glance to the blue star in the distance, he folded his arms and leaned forward, feeling very small. "I don't want him to feel like me." he finally mumbled.
He could just see the Toads below the brim of his hat. Rosalina was silent, only giving a thoughtful hum, before she observed the Toads with him. Together, they watched their joyful group dance and play with the Lumas, like they were on a vacation rather than a perilous journey to the undefined ends of the universe. Mario wondered if there was any difference, as far as they were concerned.
After a moment, he shifted how he was sitting. He felt like he couldn't stay still. Thoughts of his brother put pressure on his nerves until he couldn't stop fidgeting with his hands. Was Luigi okay? How was he going to explain that they weren't going home? The faintest memory from ages ago surfaced in his mind, when they both decided not to return to Brooklyn, to stay in the Mushroom Kingdom. Luigi had been so quiet that day. How would he react to being stranded in outer space? Mario sensed his heart beating faster. Rosalina glanced at him with a slight tilt of her head.
She studied him, like she was merely reading a book. Then, she gathered her dress as if she was about to stand. "He is at a place called the Ghostly Galaxy."
Mario shot up to his feet like a spring. He paused to offer his hand to Rosalina, helping her get up. "Thank you." he told her, meeting her eyes just long enough to be polite, before he turned and leapt up the stairs. Luma flew after him, and Mario lifted his hat just enough for him to get underneath. His sudden rush of energy had him running towards the nearest map.
Ghostly Galaxy. That was all he needed to know.
O~o~O
And there's chapter 2 ✨ The name of the chapter and the quote at the top come from Franz Kafka's 1915 novella The Metamorphosis, which is about a man who wakes up one day to find he has been transformed into a bug. His entire family had previously relied on him for financial support, which he can no longer do as a giant bug. The story follows the progression of their gradual rejection of his humanity, which eventually causes him to reject his own humanity in the end. There are many interpretations, but I think the most popular one is the idea of the way we have historically tended to reject people who suddenly lose their ability to provide or behave in the ways that we are accustomed to. It is a theme I tried to echo throughout this story.
The songs I associate with this chapter are Let Down by Radiohead, and Rapid Eye Movement by Eik Octobre. Radiohead has a lot of music that has often inspired me before; I wrote a different story based on another one of their songs called Man of War. But Let Down I felt really concisely captured some of the hard feelings in this story; it talks about traveling too often to where it feels empty, and also like feeling like a squashed bug which I tried to lean into for this chapter. Rapid Eye Movement is a piano piece that starts off peaceful and then kind of grows into an almost chaotic crescendo. The melody reminds me a lot of the SMG sound track, though I couldn't tell you why. Both songs kind of end with this electronic beeping that definitely reminds me of videogame style music.
This story is also going to be partly told in flashbacks. It's probably cliche or maybe poorly structured, I don't know lol. But it's the way my muse wanted me to write it, so it's the way I'm presenting it. It's fanfiction anyway. I can do whatever I want ? Basically this is an SMG and also "origin" story. I mentioned it before, but this has existed since about 2016, and I didn't really change the trajectory of the story in response to any new developments like the movie. This is purely what my child self wanted, and hopefully it's readable even if you haven't had the chance to play SMG.
Thanks for reading!